Letter #52 (September 22, 2104)

Last week was SO good in a lot of ways. But it was also really hard. Which is probably why it was so good. Does that make sense? It's opposition in all things. The law of compensation. It's a love hate kind of thing, but I love it. It is so reassuring to know that when things go bad, something really good is coming up. 

So this week was hard for a couple of reasons. We have been in the process of dropping pretty much all of our investigators because the just won't progress. We've held onto them for too long in the hopes at heir hearts would change, but they're just not ready right now and we can't make them ready. So on Thursday we dropped the sweetest lady ever. She was so sad, which made it that much harder for us. 

Last night was also hard. We've been attempting to teach this little family for. While now, but they are living a a motel right now, trying to A. Get work and B. Move to a different city. But they've been at that motel for four months now and don't seem to be getting anywhere. Well yesterday we went by to see if they were still there. They are. And the youngest son got hit by a car and had to go to doctors appointments that they can't afford a few times a week. It's so sad because thing keep getting from bad to worse. And I just know that the gospel would change their lives around, but it is difficult to work with them in their current state. So we don't really know what to do.

But. This week really was very good in other ways. For example, I think I wrote about it raining last Tuesday. Well, we have since found out that it only rained where we were. No one else felt it except for a few people that live near the church. It seriously rained just for us! I'm not even kidding a little bit. It was SO hot that day and so Heavenly Father blessed us for going out and working hard anyway. Crazy.

And then Saturday was really good because pretty much every person that we stopped by was home. Like, if we had gotten there five minutes before or after we did we would have missed them. It was perfect. But get this. So we've had a referral for a Dennis O'Connell for a few months now, we've stopped by multiple times, no answer. We called the phone number, it was disconnected. So we stopped by one last time last week. No answer. So we left a pass along card in his door and called it good. We figured he probably moved and no one lives there. Until he called us on Saturday. "Hi, this is Dennis O'Connell. A Sister Kretchman and Sister Fjeldsted left a card on my door with this number on it." *Me freaking out inside* "Oh, we're missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Some othersisters talked to you a while back and gave us your information. Is there a time that we can meet and teach you more about Jesus Christ?" "Absolutely!" *Me absolutely shocked and freaking out more than ever* "Great! When can we...." Etc. Holy Cow people! NO ONE calls us from pass along cards. Ever. What the heck?! So we're really excited about that. HUGE blessing.

And then yesterday had two big events. One is the primary program. I LOVE the primary program. It's one if my favorite Sunday's ever. This one included a talk about how "my little sister Maddi is such a pest," a nice, loud, singer that then yelled "ca you hear me mom?" into the mic, and finished with the poor primary president (who is also the chorister) ending the final song with a big sweep of her arm with a squirmy child that she picked up just a moment before in the other arm. Despite all of that, it was still very good. It was really cool too because even some of the 3 and 4 year olds had memorized their parts.

Something really great about the primary program is how some, the testimonies are. We were able to arrange for this really sweet less active member with Parkinson's to come to listen to the primary program (her sight isn't too good). She seems to be kind of doze through a lot of it, but then the last song was "I'm I Child of God" and she perked right up and just started smiling! It was so sweet. She doesn't understand a lot of things, but she can still talk to us a little bit and she still remembers some things about church. "I Am a Child of God" is such a classic that she was able to recognize it. And we had sung it to her one day when we went to visit her and her daughter, Susan, who we have been working with. It was so sweet. She thanked us so much for inviting her and finding her and her nurse assistant a ride.

The other fun part about yesterday is that we finally did the youth fireside that I have wanted to do ever since I came out! When I was in Young Women, we had a fireside where Brillante (a newly returned missionary) spoke to us, and then they made us go out tracting around the church building. It was nerve racking and all of us were kind of annoyed about it, but it ended up being a really cool experience and something at I have always.  So we did that here. But instead of using church classrooms as people's "houses" we used actual houses. There is a little section of our area where six active members live really close to one another. So we started out with just talking about why we decided to serve missions, things we wish we had done to prepare, etc. and then we sent them out tracting to actual houses. I thought that a couple of the Young Men would either faint, or murder us. And only one Young Women came, so the bishop's wife was her companion. Once they realized that the houses were members' houses and not actually people's houses, they calmed down a teensy bit. So we sent them out with a little hand drawn map, gave them a name tag (a white label with the church's name written on it and Elder/Sister ______), a couple of Restoration pamphlets, and a couple of pass along cards. It was SO funny. Many of the youth belonged to the families who's houses we were using, so many people were rejected by their own parents or grandparents. It was so great. I think that it was a good experience for them though. One of the Young Men told me "yeah, I hated you at first, but then it was okay. So I don't hate you now." Haha, it was great. The youth will definitely never forget us! They might not remember us too fondly, but that's okay, the adults in this Ward all absolutely love it. And I think that the members who participated had a good time.

Anyway, two more things and then I'll wrap up I promise. 

1- We went to the zoo today! It was so fun! 

2- I looked up the Ensign that came out in February 1994 (the month and year that I was born) and I found an article that is kind of mind-blowing/slightly eerie. So I was scrolling the oh the titles of the articles and I found one with the word "missionary" in it, so I clicked on it. Well. Not only did it talk about missionaries, but he missionary was from California, and his sister's name was Analisa. Are you freaked out? I am. It was so cool at that article was published 20.5 years ago and was written just for me. The content was anything that I needed to read right at this moment or anything, but there is no way that that was a coincidence. That article came out right around the time I was born. And Analisa is NOT a very common name. Different spelling, but still. Weird. It's amazing how God really does know each of us individually. 

Anyway, I'm done now. I love you all!

~Sister Kretchman

Letter #51 (September 17, 2014)

NOT okay. Nope, I definitely can't have been out for a year. I still have my whole mission ahead of me! Today exactly a year ago I came into the mission field. What the?

Seriously though. Where in the world has the time gone?! I feel like
I've been a missionary forever, but I also feel like I'm still new. No
bueno. And yet everyone else is just going about their lives. I swear,
every time I get on Facebook I see that someone is engaged. I'm not
old enough to have engaged/married friends! Am I? I don't feel like
it.

Speaking of marriage. Lindsay and Andrew got married on Friday! They were two hours late to their own wedding! but they finally made it! It was wonderful. I loved watching Andrew. The groomsmen come walking down the aisle, and the here comes Andrew looking like he's on cloud nine, just totally in a happiness daze. And the the brides maids and the flower girl (chucking petals at people instead of onto ground. Priceless), and the Lindsay starts walking towards Andrew and he just looks like he's about to cry. He looked like he felt like the luckiest man alive. Now then, I usually don't think too too much about marriage and what not because I'm a missionary and have other things to worry about. But I sincerely hope that someone looks at me like that someday. Not now, but someday before I'm 57 hopefully.

Oh, something cool about the wedding though. While we were waiting, we were sitting with some members with some other members behind us. One of Andrew's brothers came over to talk to us or something and the members of our ward sitting behind us told him "Yeah, these are our sisters. They're the best thing to happen to this ward since Lindsay and Andrew." That was pretty much the best compliment ever. This ward seriously loves us. And I seriously love this ward! Sister Fjeldsted and I will always be remembered here. We are the firstsisters in over a decade and we work SO well together. It's funny, in Pasadena ward, I always heard about Sisters Olson and Fulsom. They were this dynamic duo that everyone remembers. We realized last week that we are that dynamic duo here. People will probably talk about us for quite a while. It's crazy.

Oh! Guess what we did this morning! We went hiking up Eaton Canyon at 6 AM and did our studies up in the mountains with a waterfall! (More of a water trickle, but I was honestly surprised that there was any water left at all, so...) It was so great. And because we were surrounded by mountains, it didn't even get too hot until we were leaving because the sun didn't shine over the mountains until then.

Speaking of the drought though (water trickle, keep up), it rained yesterday! Only for about ten minutes, and possibly only right where we were, but still! So naturally we stood out in it for a few minutes. Glorious. I love it so much. I miss rain like crazy. It has been SO HOT. We biked uphill to our ward mission leader's house on Sunday in about 111 degree weather. Sick. We've gone through SO many water bottles the last few days, it's insane.

So on a more serious note, we met with a less active this week that just made me sad. He's a convert that was active for about ten years. But then he got into philosophy and what not and became New Age instead. He explained a lot about what he believes, but it didn't make too much sense to me to be honest. It was just sad though because he said that it's not true what when we say that everyone can be happier with the gospel in their lives because he wasn't and is much happier now. How do you explain to someone that they could be so much happier, but that they can't just go through the motions of keeping the commandments, but that they have to have faith in what they are doing and do it with their hearts? It just made me really sad because I know that he and his family would be much happier and be able to find more peace in life if they followed the gospel of Jesus Christ. But it all really comes down to faith and how determined you personally are to do what is right for the right reasons. If I came on a mission because someone forced me to, then I'd be miserable. But God told me that I should, and I have faith in Him, so I came. And I've never been happier or had more of a sense of purpose in my life. I just wish that I could better help others to find that peace and joy as well.

Anyway, this is already fairly long and I don't want to bore you, so I'll stop.

Wish me a happy year mark and a great six months to go! Hopefully the last six months won't go by as fast as everyone says they will. They can take their time...

I love and miss you all!

~Sister Kretchman

Look what I found on Boss' Day.  It's me!

Letter #50 (September 8, 2014)

It RAINED this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so glorious. I love it. We stood out in it and actually got cold for once. That's right. Cold. Which is in stark contrast to biking in about 103 degree weather. It has been HOT. But good. But here is what's cool: our ward mission leader's daughter, Katie Bell (just like Harry Potter!), just got home from her mission on Friday. It was so fun meeting her because we've talked to her on the phone and on Facebook because she was working with her school friends via Facebook while she was on her mission in DC. So she would give us referrals and stuff. Anyway, her homecoming talk was this Sunday. It was fast Sunday, so she just bore her testimony first and then it was open for anyone else to come up. But what's cool is that she invited over 125 non-members to come see her speak, and quite a few did! So we were all asked to fast again for an end to the drought that we have been in. Last time we did this, it sprinkled the next day, but then that was it. And that was about 6 months ago. So we did it again. So all of Katie's friends are hearing the bishop and everyone talk about fasting for rain yesterday and everything. And then, lo and behold, it rained this morning! So hopefully they realize that it's because of faith and fasting. So cool.

Okay, so another funny thing about testimony meeting: almost every mentioned Sister Fjeldsted and I in their testimonies! It was ridiculous. They just kept going on about how great we are and what not. We just kept sinking deeper and deeper into our seats... It was so sweet though. We had dinner with this old couple earlier last week, and when we did the spiritual thought, the wife just couldn't stop talking about how we are just like angels and what not. She's so funny. But seriously! It was so weird! One of the sisters had just gone out with us the night before, and so she got up and bore her testimony basically about the "missionary glow." She said that as we were walking, everyone stopped to look at us. It's funny, because people stare at us all day every day, and I just don't notice anymore. So she went on about how they could tell that there was something special about us and what not. It was strange to be talked about in that way, because I don't feel any more special or anything than anyone else, but I am a representative of Jesus Christ, and sometimes I forget that I am very different from regular people. Anyway, I left sacrament meeting a tad bit embarrassed, but I'm sure glad that we've made a good impression! We've had a lot of people tell us, too, that we work really well together. And we do. Sister Fjeldsted is like my best friend. So we can really piggyback off of each other and we're not afraid to tell each other if we think that we need to change something. We really are striving to be consecrated to the Lord. Which is something that I always try to do, but it's hard to do that if your companion isn't trying to as well. I am NOT excited for her to go home! She leaves at the end of this month. Super bummed.

It was fun to meet Katie Bell. It was so weird though, because she all of a sudden just wasn't a missionary anymore. It was kind of depressing really. She was so funny though, she was giving Sister Fjeldsted tips about going home. Like "just dump all of your clothes onto you companion. You'll think that you're clothes are still cute, but then as soon as your released, you'll realize how hideous they all are! So weird!" And she freaked out when we got to her house because she felt like she needed to be with sister missionaries. It made me really sad that we never have sisters in my ward at home. I think that it would be so great to have both!

So this is already really long, so I'll try to just briefly go over some other highlights of the week:

We went to contact a less active, who apparently has moved. BUT. His stepsister still lives there and she is so cool! Her name is Ratchenla. We told her who we were and what we do and she's like, "well, I'm busy right now, but why don't we exchange phone numbers so we can meet? I definitely want to." WHAT?!?!?! No one does that. Not anyone. So she gave us her phone number and I gave her a pass along card with ours and she just kept saying "make sure to touch base with me" and stuff like that. So I'm way excited about her. I think she'll be great!

This week I taught a woman from Egypt! Her name is Afifa. We got her name and address as a referral on our phone. It said that it was a self referral! So we went by. She welcomed us right in, sat us down, and then said "so, who are you?" She had no clue about the church at all. So we have no idea where the referral came from. She was so nice though! We began teaching her the Restoration and are hoping to start teaching her whole family!

We also had another lesson with Justin. I don't remember if I wrote about him before or not, so brief background: His step-grandma is less active because she has MS. His grandfather is not a member. So we would go and teach the two of them sometimes. One day we went over, and Justin was there. He is 24 and just moved to CA fairly recently. He's from Kentucky, so really friendly. So we taught him the Restoration. And he is so prepared! He said that he'd get baptized and everything. It has been so incredible. Heavenly Father has truly been blessing us the past few weeks.

We also taught Susan and Rodney again. They're the ones where she is a member, he is not, and her mom lives with them and has Parkinson's. So we tried by Saturday night. Janice (her mom) was home with her caretaker, Mishi. So we went in and sang to Janice. It was so sweet to see her face light up. Then she asked us to read the Book of Mormon to her. So we did. She is so precious. She is very frail and speaks quieter than a whisper. But she still remembered about the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was so strong that entire time, and I think that Mishi could feel it too. The next night, we went back and just Susan was home. The Spirit really worked through us and we were able to alleviate some of her concerns. I really think that she will come to church on Sunday (Sister Fjeldsted and I are singing another duet). I can't even describe the joy that I feel when I teach that family. They are just so sincere, and so open to the Spirit. It's incredible how I can do the exact same things with two different people, and the huge difference between someone who's heart is open and willing to listen, and someone who is closed off. It really strengthened my testimony of the elect. There are people out there who are just ready. It's as simple as that. We just need to go find them.

(Okay, so maybe I'm not being too terribly brief)

Yesterday was just such an amazing day. The Spirit was so strong in church, so strong during Susan's lesson, and then (in between those two things) we went to a baptism! There is a nine year old boy named Paul that we started teaching when we first got here. His family was less active and trying to come back and we were the first missionaries that they really let in. (Well, Sister Fjeldsted and the sister that was there for a week or so before the emergency transfer). I love their family so so much. They are wonderful. We ended up having to pass them off to a different set of missionaries though because, while they live in our ward boundaries, they decided to attend a different ward. So the missionaries in the other ward finished teaching them. But we were able to go to Paul's baptism yesterday. His dad was able to baptize him, fully worthy once more. Having just received the priesthood the Sunday before. The Spirit was so strong. It was incredible. 

So just a couple more things and then I promise I'm done. 

We went to go meet a less active man in the ward. When he opened the door, he looked kind of grumpy, but then saw our tags and his face lightened up. He showed us a little stack of papers in his hand and said "oh, I was all ready for he Jehovah's Witness!" I was very glad in that moment that I wasn't one. He's no interested in the church anyway, but at least he didn't have a stack of papers to prove us wrong! Oh boy.

And. We're going to a wedding this Friday! There is a couple in our ward who is getting married. He is a member and his whole family are members. She just got baptized almost a year ago, and her whole family is Catholic. So it has been really rough of her unfortunately. But we've kind of been there for her and helped her out a lot. So we are being allowed to go to the wedding, more for moral support than anything. She's been going through a lot trying put the wedding all together. She doesn't even really care about the wedding, she's just looking forward to being sealed in a year, which I sincerely hope that I'll be able to make it back here for!

Okay. Now I'm done.

I love you all so much! Go out and do missionary work! Everyone needs the gospel. Everyone will benefit from having it in their lives. And really, if we love our friends, wouldn't we WANT them to have the greatest blessing they could ever possibly have?

Have a great week! Write me!

~Sister Kretchman

So here's one of us while we were helping our investigator with some stuff outside. She is asian, and a lot of the asians here wear big sunhats and medical masks to keep the sun away, and to keep out the air pollution. So when we went outside she insisted that we wear hats.

 Corn popsicles from the local chinese market

Letter #49 (September 1, 2014)

Where does the time go!? It's Monday already? What?!

This week was SO GOOD. We taught four lessons with a member present,
which is a new record for us in this area. I love this ward, but it is
kind of a tough area. I love it's though. We've been very blessed this
week with referrals. There are Chinese and Spanish missionaries that
work in our area, so we get a lot of referrals from them and from the
Pasadena Sisters since they live in our area. We started teaching a
few of our referrals, which was great! We also went to see this really
sweet less active lady and her grandson was there and we taught him
the Restoration! She would chime in every so often and explain things
too, it was really cool. Her grandson is 25 and just so open to
learning. He doesn't actually live in our area, so we got his
information to send to YSA the missionaries where he lives. I'm really
excited for him!

We also got a referral this week that was kind of frustrating. It was
a self referral from Mormon.org, so we were really excited about it,
but he referred himself so that he could try to convince us that we're
wrong. He was really nice and I think that he thought that he was
helping us, but it was just so sad. He just kept saying that we were
young and deluded and naive and stuff and we needed to read the Bible
more. He started Bible bashing, which I hate because you can
misconstrue verses all day. If the point he was trying make with the
scriptures he read us was accurate, then other things in the Bible
would have to be false. It's so contradictory. So obviously we just
stopped him, respectfully told him that we were there to help him come
closer to Christ, and if he's not interested in that, then we needed
to go so that we can help people who are open. And then we left. It
made me so sad because I really think that he was trying t help us,
but was really just further distancing himself from the true gospel.

Anyway, this week also consisted of a lot of service. We started
volunteering at a food pantry in our area. We go there every Tuesday
now. It's not in the best condition though, there's lots of stuff that
had gone bad, so we spent quite a bit of time throwing out rotten
fruit and broken eggs. It was nasty, but kind of fun because we
started squishing the rotten fruit into the trash can. So much juice
spurted out! It was entertaining. Gross, but fun.

We also helped someone move in! It's a family of six that just moved
into the ward. Huntington ward really needs fore solid families, so
this is perfect! They have four boys that range from 10 to 17. Brother
Berry is hilarious. He is an actor, which is why they moved here from
Massachusetts. You can find him on IMDB! Phil Berry. And while you're
at it, Google Julia Berry. She's an author! She's written a few
different books, all which look pretty good! What a family! Brother
Berry thinks (as many do) that I look like Jennifer Lawrence. So he
said that he'll call me Sister J-Law and call Sister Fjeldsted Sister
J-Feld. So there you go. Oh, AND they all song and are into musicals!
But I digress. Sister Fjeldsted and I thoroughly impressed them.
Everyone thinks that sisters are so weak and pathetic. Think again! We
carried some of the heaviest stuff actually. Oh. On a side note, one
of their sons banged his knee and we hear "SON OF A..... Baconator."
it made me day.

We also worked at a homeless shelter with our one investigator. We did
it with her and the elders in the East Pasadena ward. It was a family
shelter. It was so sad to see that there were no fathers there. They
were all mothers with 3-5 kids. It broke my heart a little bit, but it
also made me so grateful for eternal families.

And then more service! Well, sort of. We were on exchanges this
weekend and me and Sister Walker (the only other sister to come out
into the field with me) went to help our investigator move some boxes
and things around, but she also fed us lunch. Well. We were helping
her do the dishes when I hear Sister Walker go "Sister Kretchman, I
just broke her cup!" I go and look and then I go "Sister Walker you're
bleeding!" She was more concerned about the cup, but I made her put it
down so we could deal with her gushing finger. The rest of the the day
was pretty much spent dealing with her finger. We had to wrap it all
up and then bike home so that I could email Sister Child (the mission
nurse and my last comp) some pictures of her cut. It was a decent cut,
I actually still have pictures on here if anyone is interested in
seeing it. Luckily. She didn't need stitches or anything, but we did
need to make an impromptu trip to CVS to get her some more bandages.
In the mean time, Sister Fjeldsted and Sister Walker's comp (who,
coincidentally, came out together as well) were in Pasadena when their
phone died. So we couldn't communicate with them to re-exchange! We
went ahead and biked to their apartment and then waited for them. And
waited. And waited. The Spanish Hermanas didn't show up either, so we
were kind of freaking out. But eventually they all got home and it was
fine. But late. Oh do late. Quite the adventure no?

Anyway, despite all of the craziness and everything, it was truly a
wonderful week. But oh so fast. Why is the time going so fast?! I've
almost been out for a year! NOT OKAY.

Anyway, I love and miss you all! Write me!

~Sister Kretchman

Letter #48 (August 25, 2014)

So the number of miles that we have biked in the past 3 months is almost equal to the number of cockroaches that we have seen. Which is about the same number of miles from here to Salt Lake City Utah. We've biked about 670 miles and seen about 600 cockroaches. 50 of those cockroaches being this morning alone. Nasty. But impressive with the miles biked! I feel like such a beast! Well... Not really. But it sounds super impressive! So now I know that I could bike to SLC in less that three months! I may have to try it someday..... Probably not. But it would be pretty sweet if I did! Gahhh, do you want to hear something super nasty? Here is an exchange between Sister Fjeldsted and I last night: 

"That gives me the heeby jeebies!... What are heeby jeebies byway?" -Me

"It's what happens when you wash your face with a cockroach" -Sister Fjeldsted.

Which is precisely what almost happened. I started to wash my face when I looked down and saw a cockroach on my washcloth!!! Yeesh! They're EVERYWHERE.

Anyway, I'm done ranting about cockroaches. Sorry about that. I'm going slightly crazy here. They're really not that bad. As a missionary that is. I would hate to have them in real life. That's something that I've learned about being a missionary; things that would not be very fun in regular life isn't really a concern here. For example, I would hate to have to wash my laundry at a laundromat every time I did my laundry at home. But as a missionary, I'm just like "this apartment is awesome! We have a wall air conditioner and wifi and there's a laundromat right around the corner!" It doesn't bother me at all. You really learn to be grateful for all of the little things. I love it! Something I've really learned is that stuff doesn't make a happy family. The happiest family I've seen didn't even have a dad, they live in a teeny, messy apartment, and they are so happy. And then I see rich families in San Marino that have both parents, kids to to the best schools and get every little gadget that they want, and here obviously miserable. Not all the time, but you can see that they don't have the same closeness with their families and with God most of the time. It really shows you where our priorities should lay. Not saying of course that you can't be rich and have nice things AND be happy and loving and a disciple of Christ, but you don't need wealth to be wealthy if that makes sense. I think that ate one of Satan's biggest lies. He says that riches will make us happier than family relations and following Christ. Not true!

Anyhow. This week we had our mission president and his wife come to meet that one less active/non-member couple. We were hoping that since 1) they're adults and 2) they speak Spanish, they might be able to get somewhere with them. But it ended up being a taco party! We get there and start talking to them, and then all of a sudden a bunch of other people show up! So we're not sure how much the Villanuevas were able to gather. I'll email President today and see if they were able to learn anything helpful. We're also going to see if the Villanuevas can invite that family over for family home evening or something. We'll see what happens I guess.

We had a really cool experience with a different LA/non-member couple though! We've only been able to catch them both at home a couple of times, but they are wonderful. Last time we were over there we didn't end up being able to teach the Restoration, but we really got to know the two of them better and we could see that the Spirit has definitely been working on them. The non-member boyfriend said that he knows that he needs to make changes in his life and what not and get going to church. But then when we invited him to church this Sunday he immediately said no. He said "I smoke and stuff still, I'm not ready to go to church yet" to which we of course told him that you don't have to be perfect to come to church and what not. Anyway, then we showed them Because of Him (which if you haven't seen it yet, you need to watch it. Pronto.) The bf was teary eyed by the end of it and also when I prayed at the end. So we leave and start biking away when the quote "church isn't a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners." And I just felt like we should go back and leave a note on their door that said that. So we turned around and Sister Fjeldsted tried to sneakily leave the note on their door (the go totally saw her, but who else would have left a note like that anyway?) Getting to my poor. This time when we were there, we were talking to them a lot about the Atonement and baptism and things and it was so cool, the LA sister pointed out that she had put the note that we left inside the door and at she reads it all the time! And the bf said that she had told him that she could tell that we were totally sincere and that we really know what we know and what not. It was probably one of the highest compliments anyone could have paid us. The Spirit was SO strong. They still haven't been to church, but I really think that they're going places and I'm so excited! I just love them so much already!

And I love you all so much! Have a great week!

~Sister Kretchman

Letter #47 (August 18, 2014)

To clarify, I neither ate a dog nor drank a Redbull.

This week sure has been interesting. It went by super fast, so I'm having a hard time remembering everything that happened, but I'll do my best.

This week I:

-Was on exchanges both times we went to our Thai investigator's house

-Possibly accidentally stole Redbull from the grocery store

-Biked 26 miles in one day

-Almost had our bikes vandalized by an 80 year old

-Re-started teaching someone that just popped out of no where

-Taught a super-cool high school teacher/motorcyclist the Restoration

-Talked to a lot of dog walkers

And last but not least

-Listened to some dang interesting talks in sacrament meeting

So Sister Fjeldsted is a sister training leader, so we do exchanges a lot. I always stay in the area and she goes to a different area. So this week we went on exchanges twice. We also went to see our Thai investigator twice. Both times, it was me and a different sister. What's funny is that we have another appointment with her is Wednesday, and we're going to be on exchanges again! So our investigator will have seen four different sisters with me in a row! 

When we got home from the grocery store, I reached into one of our bags, pulled out some stuff that we bought, and then pulled out a can of Redbull. What the heck?! I wasn't mine, it was as Fjeldsted's, it didn't fall into our bag out of our member hat drove us's bag. So we have no idea how it got there. We checked our receipts and it didn't show up on either of them. So we don't know where it came from. But it is probably just going to end up in the trash, because nobody needs Redbull.

We got a referral for someone living at the very top of our are yesterday, so up we went into Wonderland (AKA San Marino, the land of the rich people with massive, multi-million dollar mansions). It is all uphill to get there, and pretty dang far. Then we had an appointment pretty much on the other side of our are! So we biked there after lunch. We basically went through every area in our ward boundaries. Hence, 26 miles. That is quite a lot. Usually it's more like 8-10 in a day.

While we were in San Marino that day we went up to Huntington Gardens to see if we could volunteer there. Huntington Gardens is basically a giant, rich people place with a museum argue rounded by this huge, beautiful park. Unfortunately. We found that the Gardens are closed once a week. Which happened to be the day that we trekked all the way up there. So we go to walk back to our bikes and we see this old woman messing with our bikes! We nought that maybe it was illegal to lock our bikes there or something (San Marino has a few strange laws) and at maybe she was reporting it or something. But it turns out that it was an older member in the ward! She recognized our bikes and so left a note in Sister Fjeldsted's helmet that said at we should stop for some water or something. It was so sweet! She ended up feeding us lunch.

So there is this Motel in our area called the Golden Motel. We always seem to meet people around there that live in this Motel that are willing to listen to us. But it's a Motel, so it's kind of sketchy and most people are only there temporarily. So we had started teaching his really sweet couple that is going through a really tough time, but then when we went back they had left because they couldn't afford it anymore or something. We were so sad! So then we were at the motel the other day to go see someone else and we pass the door of the room that they used to stay in. Sister Fjeldsted says "I miss them, I wish that we could have seen them before they left." Lo and behold, we keep walking, and she's standing right there! Apparently they had scrounged up enough money to get a new room at the motel after that day! So we taught them yesterday.

I also taught this really neat lady that we met walking on Saturday when we were on exchanges. She was having some motorcycle troubles and I happen to know someone nearby at used to work on motorcycles. So we stopped to see if we could help. I had her talk to the person I know on the phone and she gets her bike up and running again. So then she sat and talked to us for a while. She looks like she is my age, but she's already a high school history teacher! She was really cool and very sweet. I'm siphoning that we can start teaching her soon.

We met a lot of people through street contacting this week. We have been making an effort to not bike so much so that we can talk to people while we walk from place to place. So we talked to a lot of people that were out walking their dogs. We met a pretty promising man that way the other day. We have high hopes for him.

And then sacrament meeting. Something I love about this church is that everyone is given an opportunity to speak/teach. However, that means that you get some interesting talks sometimes. We had a youth speaker yesterday that started out with "I was told to talk about obedience" and included "and then she was pulverized by a car." He's 12 and the bishop's son. It was quite entertaining, but not quite spiritually uplifting. And then the next speaker was much better, but he got some unintended audience participation. He was talking about how the world is so diverse. There are good people, bad people, shady people... To which a young boy in the congregation yells "SHADY?!" Well, little kids need to learn the gospel too. It sure ended up being an interesting Sunday.

So transfer calls are is Saturday and Sister Fjeldsted and I both feel like we are going to get a call. We don't know which one of us it would be, but we're kind of feeling like one is coming. I really hope not though! I haven't even been here for a full two transfers, so I really don't want to go. And Sister Fjeldsted only has one transfer after this, so it would stink for her to have to be in a new area for just six weeks before she goes home. Whatever happens though, I know that this is the Lord's work and that He will put us where we need to be. I'm just hoping that it's here still.

Welp, I guess that's all for this week! Sorry that this wasn't the most spiritually uplifting email of your life, but some weeks are just like that.

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

~Sister Kretchman

Oh. And I realized that I didn't actually say anything about the dog burrito. I just made a breakfast burrito for lunch and the eggs and peppers and everything ended up smelling like dog in the pan! I said something to that effect and Sister Fjeldsted thought that I was just being dramatic. B then she smelled it and agreed! It tasted fine, but did NOT smell like it was edible. Nasty.

Our bike miles log:

Letter #46 (August 5, 2014)

Oh my goodness gracious this weekend was the greatest thing of my
life! If you didn't see on Facebook already I had QUITE the Saturday.
I woke up at 5:50 so that I could be ready at 7 AM to get a Skype call
from Pennsylvania. The purpose of that Skype call was not Christmas or
Mother's Day. The purpose was the baptism of a friend of mine and Aj's
from high school. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost at said baptism and
was then able to watch my friend enter into the waters of baptism and
come up perfect clean and pure. All via Skype. I am so grateful for
the technology that God has inspired man to create so that we could
have such incredible channels of communication.

Then, right after that baptism, I went to an 8 year old baptism that
the child's grandfather asked me to go to. Very different dynamics,
but still wonderful.

Then we came home and ate lunch.

Then we did some service for our investigator Jennie.

Then we had an amazing lesson with a less active woman and her NM
boyfriend. The Spirit has obviously been working hard on them. The man
was teary eyed by the end of it. We have I hopes for the two of them.

Later that day we got to witness the most beautiful sunset of my
entire life. I'll send you a picture, but it won't do it justice.

Then we tried to contact a less active member, but his apartment
complex was gated. So we waited a little bit, said a prayer, and then
a car pulled up that was going in. So we went in behind it... Only to
find that there was absolutely no way out unless another car came!
Usually with places like that there is a little door next to the car
gate that you can of in and out of, but this one didn't have that.
That door was on the other aide of the row of apartments. The part
that we went into was in the middle of two buildings, where all of the
garages were. The other side of each building had the doors to the
apartments (which is what we needed so that we could knock on the
door). We figured that if we went in the way that we did, we could go
around the back to go to the side with the apartment doors. Not so.
Dead end. So we were stuck. And it was night time. Basically we
probably would have had to wait until it was. Little but later and it
would b less likely that people were watching, and then climb over the
fence to get back out to the street. Luckily, Heavenly Father was
merciful and another car came in so we were able to get out. Oh boy.

And then that night it rained!!!!! It was so glorious. We went and
stood out in it for little bit. It hasn't rained here in months. I
miss it!

So basically it was just a super wonderful day. And then Sunday was
wonderful as well. It was a really lovely testimony meeting and then
Sister Fjeldsted and I got to do singing time in primary! It was so
much fun! They were kind of a tough crowd, but we still had a blast.
Afterward we gave them all a pass along card to give to their friends.
So fun.

The rest of the week was really good too!

We were on a panel for a stake achievement days camp. We talked about
preparing for a mission and how being a missionary prepares you for
the rest of your life. The. We opened up for questions. The only
question we got was "is it hard to ride a bike in a skirt?" But then,
they are pretty young, so it makes sense. Oh my goodness, it was so
funny/disturbing. One of the other ladies on the panel asked if anyone
had clubs at their school, and no one raised their hands. Finally, one
solitary little hand goes up. "We have a poker club at my school! They
use pennies." What!?!? In an elementary school? What?! I couldn't help
laughing though.

We also had a cool experience where twice in one day one of us felt
like going. See a particular person, and they weren't home. But then
they dove up right as we went to leave! So we were able too talk to
them and set appointments with both of them. Very cool. And something
similar happened yesterday too. I love that.

Oh, random thought. I don't know if I wrote about this last week or
not. But last Sunday a family just showed up to church! Apparently
they live nearby and so have seen it and just decided to give it a
try! It was so cool. That same Sunday and NM friend of a family in the
ward gave a talk. That was only her second time ever coming to church.
It helps that her friend's husband is in he bishopric. We also spoke,
but her talk was the best by far. So good.

Anyway, lots more happened, but ain't nobody got time to read a super
long email! And this is already pretty long.

I love and miss you all! Have a great week! Share the gospel with your friends!

~Sister Kretchman

Oh! I forgot, for anyone who was at Amanda's baptism (or anyone that's interested) here are the notes from my talk. I prepared for days but then didn't say even half of what I planned of course.

You are going to receive the most expensive gift of your life. I know that it is of great value because of its high price.* This gift is the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is about equal in value to all of the sins and mistakes that we make, and all of our weaknesses. Thankfully, we only have to pay the teensiest fraction of this price. Really, Christ paid it in full, all He asks of us is to follow Him. 

So what makes the Gift of the Holy Ghost so valuable? The Holy Ghost is what brings us the most joy that we could ever feel, it is our guide, our voice of warning. It protects us and comforts us. And, probably most importantly, it is what cleanses us. The Holy Ghost really is that baptism of fire. It is that fire that burns within us and rids us of anything that makes us unclean. It purifies us like a silversmith purifies silver. It burns away all impurities, allowing us to forget about our mistakes and weaknesses. The Holy Ghost is what cleanses us to enable us to enter into the presence of God someday. No unclean thing can enter into the presence of God,** which creates quite the problem since none of us are perfect. But because God loves us He sent His son Jesus Christ*** to make up the difference for each and every one of us. We receive that help as we accept Christ into our lives and keep Heavenly Father's commandments. When we are baptized, we commit to God that we will follow Him. And because He loves us and WANTS us to come back to Him, He sends the Holy Ghost to not only help us, but to give us the opportunity to move on and to start fresh.****

The Gift of the Holy Ghost compensates for all of the sacrifices that we make every day to follow Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Being a follower of Christ isn't easy. We have to give up the things that we like and replace them with the things a God likes. It can be difficult at times, but think of it like this: we give up temporary pleasures for eternal joy. As we do the things that God would have us do, we feel such joy and comfort from the Holy Ghost.

* "The gift of the Holy Ghost is one of our Heavenly Father’s most precious gifts. Through the power of the Holy Ghost we can feel God’s love and direction for us. This gift is a foretaste of eternal joy and a promise of eternal life." (Preach My Gospel)

** 3 Nephi 27:19 "And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end."

*** "Heavenly Father has provided us, His children, with a way to be successful in this life and to return to live in His presence. However, we must be pure and clean through obedience in order to do so. Disobedience moves us away from Him. Central to our Father’s plan is Jesus Christ’s Atonement. The Atonement included His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane as well as His suffering and death on the cross. Through the Atonement we can be freed from the burden of our sins and develop faith and strength to face our trials." (PMG)

**** D&C 82:10- "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." Heavenly Father will ALWAYS keep His end of the bargain. You will always be able to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost if you continue to strive to live Christ's teachings.

~Sister Kretchman